There are many rightwing intellectuals, though, in France, for example, in the United States, they are talking about some very soon that we are all going to be outnumbered. "There's some minorities and immigrants are going to outnumber us. And the great replacement that I was talking about, this manufactured victimhood of the majority population, that very soon they're going to outnumber us. ![]() And so it's this ethnic nationalism that is connected with the majority race, majority religion and majority native population, which then this the incitement is for xenophobia. Similarly in in Erdogan's Turkey, Islamic nationalism, in Indonesia and Islamic nationalism and in India, it's Hindu nationalism. In the United States, Brazil, it's more like Iran's Christian evangelical nationalism." And that's where religion plays an important role. Now, all of this, we are weaving into a sense of ethnic nationalism. And by the way, I gave immigration, as an example, in other countries, including in rich countries, but in developing countries, religious tensions is a very extremely important issue. "This populist demagogues are utilizing these anxieties, harvesting the result of these anxieties. And the main cultural insecurity issue, of course, by these extreme right-wing parties is about immigration." ![]() So that tells you that it's not just economic insecurity. Country workers don't have falling or stagnant income as much like the other countries. So this is happening in Sweden, which relatively economically secure country. Yet, As you know, very recently, in fact, after my book came out in late 2022, after that, Sweden had an election in which not merely the leading party is the right-wing party, but it's backed by an extreme right-wing party with neo-Nazi roots. In Sweden, that percentage was about 20%. "So that's obviously an indicator of economic insecurity. The data show that if you take 25 of the richest countries, on an average, about 60% of their households, sometimes even more, 65% of the households had either stagnant income, an income didn't change or falling income. In Sweden is somewhat an exception to most of the rich countries. But if economic insecurity was the main issue, then there are cases, I can give you examples. I mean, obviously, if you lose your job, that's a big thing in your life and the culture can wait. "Economic insecurity, of course, is very important. On economic and cultural insecurity around the world Not to be republished without permission. Excerpt from A World of Insecurity by Pranab Bardhan.
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